Gênesis 47

ARC · Chapter 47/50

1Então veiu José, e annunciou a Pharaó, e disse: Meu pae, e os meus irmãos, e as suas ovelhas, e as suas vaccas, com tudo o que teem, são vindos da terra de Canaan, e eis que estão na terra de Gosen

2E tomou uma parte de seus irmãos, a saber cinco varões, e os poz diante de Pharaó.

3Então disse Pharaó a seus irmãos: Qual é vosso negocio? E elles disseram a Pharaó: Teus servos são pastores de ovelhas, tanto nós como nossos paes.

4Disseram mais a Pharaó: Viemos para peregrinar n'esta terra; porque não ha pasto para as ovelhas de teus servos, porquanto a fome é grave na terra de Canaan; agora pois rogamos-te que teus servos habitem na terra de Gosen.

5Então fallou Pharaó a José, dizendo: Teu pae e teus irmãos vieram a ti:

6A terra do Egypto está diante da tua face, no melhor da terra faze habitar teu pae e teus irmãos; habitem na terra de Gosen: e se sabes que entre elles ha homens valentes, os porás por maioraes do gado, sobre o que eu tenho.

7E trouxe José a Jacob, seu pae, e o poz diante de Pharaó; e Jacob abençoou a Pharaó.

8E Pharaó disse a Jacob: Quantos são os dias dos annos da tua vida?

9E Jacob disse a Pharaó: Os dias dos annos das minhas peregrinações são cento e trinta annos; poucos e maus foram os dias dos annos da minha vida, e não chegaram aos dias dos annos da vida de meus paes nos dias das suas peregrinações.

10E Jacob abençoou a Pharaó, e saiu de diante da face de Pharaó.

11E José fez habitar a seu pae e seus irmãos, e deu-lhes possessão na terra do Egypto, no melhor da terra, na terra de Rameses, como Pharaó ordenara.

12E José sustentou de pão a seu pae, e seus irmãos, e toda a casa de seu pae, segundo os seus meninos.

13E não havia pão em toda a terra, porque a fome era mui grave; de maneira que a terra do Egypto e a terra de Canaan desfalleciam por causa da fome.

14Então José recolheu todo o dinheiro que se achou na terra do Egypto, e na terra de Canaan, pelo trigo que compravam: e José trouxe o dinheiro á casa de Pharaó.

15Acabando-se pois o dinheiro da terra do Egypto, e da terra de Canaan, vieram todos os egypcios a José, dizendo: Dá-nos pão; porque morreremos em tua presença? porquanto o dinheiro nos falta.

16E José disse: Dae o vosso gado, e eu vol-o darei por vosso gado, se falta o dinheiro.

17Então trouxeram o seu gado a José: e José deu-lhes pão em troca de cavallos, e do gado das ovelhas, e do gado das vaccas e dos jumentos; e os sustentou de pão aquelle anno por todo o seu gado

18E acabado aquelle anno, vieram a elle no segundo anno, e disseram-lhe: Não occultaremos ao meu senhor que o dinheiro é acabado, e meu senhor possue os animaes, e nenhuma outra coisa nos ficou diante da face de meu senhor, senão o nosso corpo e a nossa terra;

19Porque morreremos diante dos teus olhos, tanto nós como a nossa terra? compra-nos a nós e á nossa terra por pão, e nós e a nossa terra seremos servos de Pharaó, e dá semente para que vivamos, e não morramos, e a terra não se desole.

20Assim José comprou toda a terra do Egypto para Pharaó, porque os egypcios venderam cada um o seu campo, porquanto a fome prevaleceu sobre elles: e a terra ficou sendo de Pharaó.

21E, quanto ao povo, fel-o passar ás cidades, desde uma extremidade da terra do Egypto até á outra extremidade.

22Somente a terra dos sacerdotes não a comprou, porquanto os sacerdotes tinham porção de Pharaó, e elles comiam a sua porção que Pharaó lhes tinha dado; por isso não venderam a sua terra.

23Então disse José ao povo: Eis que hoje tenho comprado a vós e a vossa terra para Pharaó; eis ahi tendes semente para vós, para que semeeis a terra.

24Ha de ser, porém, que das colheitas dareis o quinto a Pharaó, e as quatro partes serão vossas, para semente do campo, e para o vosso mantimento, e dos que estão nas vossas casas, e para que comam vossos meninos.

25E disseram: A vida nos tens dado; achemos graça nos olhos de meu senhor, e seremos servos de Pharaó.

26José pois poz isto por estatuto até ao dia de hoje, sobre a terra do Egypto, que Pharaó tirasse o quinto: só a terra dos sacerdotes não ficou sendo de Pharaó.

27Assim habitou Israel na terra do Egypto, na terra de Gosen, e n'ella tomaram possessão, e fructificaram, e multiplicaram-se muito.

28E Jacob viveu na terra do Egypto dezesete annos: de sorte que os dias de Jacob, os annos da sua vida, foram cento e quarenta e sete annos.

29Chegando-se pois o tempo da morte d'Israel, chamou a José seu filho, e disse-lhe: Se agora tenho achado graça em teus olhos, rogo-te que ponhas a tua mão debaixo da minha côxa, e usa commigo de beneficencia e verdade; rogo-te que me não enterres no Egypto.

30Mas que eu jaza com os meus paes; por isso me levarás do Egypto, e me sepultarás na sepultura d'elles. E elle disse: Farei conforme a tua palavra.

31E disse elle: Jura-me. E elle jurou-lhe; e Israel inclinou-se sobre a cabeceira da cama.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Joseph presents his father and brothers to Pharaoh, who grants them the land of Goshen; during the ongoing famine, Joseph manages the crisis by acquiring land and livestock in exchange for food for Pharaoh, and Jacob lives out his final years in Egypt.

Explanation

This chapter shows Joseph continuing to carry out his administrative duties with remarkable competence, a skill that, combined with his faith, had been developed over years of trials. The economic policy he implements during the famine — trading food for livestock, land, and finally service to Pharaoh — may seem harsh by modern standards, but within the text itself it is presented as a necessary solution that the Egyptian people themselves accepted with gratitude ('thou hast saved our lives,' v. 25), preventing an even more catastrophic famine. Meanwhile, Jacob's family settles and prospers in the land of Goshen, fulfilling the promise of provision Joseph had made. The simple and touching meeting between the now-elderly Jacob and Pharaoh shows a humble patriarch acknowledging that his life, though long, had been full of hardship ('few and evil have the days... been,' v. 9), yet still lived under God's blessing.

Fun facts

  • The land-reform policy Joseph implemented, in which all the land of Egypt (except that of the priests) came to belong to Pharaoh in exchange for food during the famine, is consistent with historical Egyptian records about the centralization of land under the State during periods of crisis in ancient Egypt.
  • The exemption of the priests' land from Joseph's purchase (v. 22) reflects the well-documented historical reality that the Egyptian priesthood owned its own land and held significant economic privileges, protected even during national crises.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Gênesis 47:1Joseph formally announces to Pharaoh that his father, his brothers, and their flocks have arrived from Canaan and are already settled in Goshen.
  2. Gênesis 47:2Joseph presents five of the brothers to Pharaoh — not the whole family at once, but a representative sample to formalize the meeting.
  3. Gênesis 47:3Pharaoh asks the brothers’ occupation, and they answer honestly: they are shepherds, just as their fathers were before them.
  4. Gênesis 47:4They explain they came to live there temporarily because of the severe famine in Canaan, specifically asking to settle in Goshen, a region suited to their kind of work.
  5. Gênesis 47:5Pharaoh directly confirms to Joseph that he acknowledges the arrival of his father and brothers.
  6. Gênesis 47:6Pharaoh authorizes them to settle in the best part of the land, in Goshen, and even suggests the most capable among them look after his own livestock too — a generous offer of trust.
  7. Gênesis 47:7Joseph personally brings Jacob to be presented to Pharaoh, and Jacob, even as the guest, blesses the king — a gesture that reverses the expected hierarchy.
  8. Gênesis 47:8Pharaoh directly asks Jacob’s age, curious about the old man’s appearance before him.
  9. Gênesis 47:9Jacob describes his entire life as a pilgrimage, even after so many years lived. It’s a way of saying he never really had a fixed, permanent land, always living as a foreigner in someone else’s country.
  10. Gênesis 47:10Jacob blesses Pharaoh a second time before leaving the meeting.
  11. Gênesis 47:11Joseph formally settles his father and brothers in the region of Rameses, within Goshen, carrying out exactly the order Pharaoh had given.
  12. Gênesis 47:12Joseph provides for his father’s entire household, adjusting the amount of bread according to the number of children in each family.
  13. Gênesis 47:13The famine grows so severe that both Egypt and Canaan suffer terribly from the scarcity of food.
  14. Gênesis 47:14Joseph collects all the money paid for the grain, from both Egypt and Canaan, and turns it all over to Pharaoh’s treasury.
  15. Gênesis 47:15When the people’s money runs out, the Egyptians turn to Joseph, fearing they will starve with nothing left to pay.
  16. Gênesis 47:16Joseph proposes a solution: trade livestock for bread, since the money had run out.
  17. Gênesis 47:17The Egyptians hand over horses, sheep, cattle, and donkeys in exchange for food, managing to sustain themselves for one more full year.
  18. Gênesis 47:18The following year, they come back to Joseph admitting all they have left to offer in exchange for food is their own bodies and their land.
  19. Gênesis 47:19With no money, livestock, or food left, the Egyptians offer to become Pharaoh’s servants just to survive the famine. What sounds shocking today was, in ancient practice, a kind of contract: they gave up their land and freedom in exchange for food and protection, continuing to work the land as a sort of tenant farmers.
  20. Gênesis 47:20Joseph ends up buying all the land of Egypt in Pharaoh’s name, since the Egyptians themselves sold their properties to survive the famine.
  21. Gênesis 47:21Joseph reorganizes the people, moving them into cities from one end of Egypt to the other — a mass relocation that further consolidates central control over the land.
  22. Gênesis 47:22The Egyptian priests are the only class that doesn’t lose their land during the famine, because they already received a fixed allowance from Pharaoh himself and didn’t depend on buying food from Joseph. The detail shows the political and religious weight the priestly class held in Egypt.
  23. Gênesis 47:23Joseph distributes seed to the people, now servants of Pharaoh, so they can go back to planting the land that has come to belong to the king.
  24. Gênesis 47:24“The fifth part” means 20 percent of the harvest. After buying up land and people for Pharaoh, Joseph establishes this permanent tax on Egyptian agricultural production, which, according to the text, was still in force long afterward.
  25. Gênesis 47:25The people give thanks, openly acknowledging that Joseph saved their lives, and accept their new status as Pharaoh’s servants without resistance.
  26. Gênesis 47:26Joseph establishes as permanent law that one-fifth of all Egypt’s harvest belongs to Pharaoh — a policy that, according to the text, was still in effect at the time this was written, except for the priests’ land.
  27. Gênesis 47:27Meanwhile, the family of Israel prospers in Goshen, settles in, and multiplies rapidly — a contrast with the crisis gripping the rest of Egypt.
  28. Gênesis 47:28Jacob lives seventeen more years in Egypt, reaching a total of one hundred forty-seven years of life.
  29. Gênesis 47:29Placing a hand under someone’s thigh was an ancient gesture for sealing a serious oath — the same gesture Abraham asked of his servant at another point in Genesis. Jacob uses this gesture to make sure Joseph will truly keep his promise not to bury him in Egypt.
  30. Gênesis 47:30Jacob asks not to be buried in Egypt, but carried back to rest with his own fathers — Joseph promises to fulfill this last request.
  31. Gênesis 47:31Joseph confirms the commitment under formal oath, and Jacob bows over the head of the bed, relieved to have secured this last wish.

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